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A Premiership Ground Waiting For Similar Footy
CONTACT DETAILS
Birmingham City Football Club
St. Andrew’s Stadium
Birmingham
B9 4NH
Phone: - 0709 111 BLUES (25837)
Fax: - 0121 766 7866
Ticket Information: - 09068 332988
Clubcall: - 09068 121188
Official website: - www.bcfc.com
Unofficial websites: - www.uptheblues.co.uk
www.keeprighton.co.uk
www.planetblues.co.uk
CAN YOU FIND US?
By Car
Take M6 to J6 (the infamous spaghetti junction). Exit here signposted A38(M) (known locally as the Aston Distressway – should be Aston Expressway) Birmingham East and Central, A38 and Lichfield.
Where road divides into two keep to right hand lane.
Continue past the first exit, signposted Aston and Waterlinks.
Exit the Expressway, A38M, after 1.1 miles, signposted Convention Centre/NIA and Ring Road.
At the roundabout at the top of the slip road turn left onto Dartmouth Middleway, signposted A41 and A45, Stratford and Coventry.
Straight over the next three roundabouts and under two railway bridges.
At the fourth roundabout (Garrison Circus) turn left onto the Coventry Road towards Small Heath and St. Andrews is 0.25 miles up here on your left hand side.
Parking?
There is a very small visitors car park at the ground and some secure parking down the hill from the ground on the Coventry Road at a Pakistani function hall at a cost of £3-00 but if you don’t fancy that my very serious advice to you is find the stadium and then drive away (in any direction) until you have at least a ten, and preferably fifteen, minute walk. Park on as much of a main road as possible. Don’t forget to remove all colours. This is what I do, take my advice.
During each of the 1998/99 and 1999/2000 seasons I had my car broken into, the first time during the Watford play-off match. You really cannot imagine how I felt. Once was during the above evening and the other time was during a Saturday afternoon and the motor was parked at totally different ends of the ground on the two occasions.
You have been warned, the natives that do not attend the match are not very nice people, and as you would expect the police are not interested either.
By Bus
The nearest major bus/coach station is Digbeth and from here the walk to the ground is not too bad. Follow the directions in the By Train section below, or if you want to get a bit closer to St. Andrews catch the number 97 from Birmingham or 98 & 99 from Digbeth.
By Train
After you arrive at New Street Station turn left and take a taxi (£3-50ish)
If you fancy stretching your legs it will take you about twenty minutes to walk to St. Andrews from New Street Station.
Exit the Station towards New Street and at the junction of New Street and Stephenson Place turn right into New Street.
Keep right and you will find St. Martins Circus in front of you. You need to get over here to the Bull Ring so either skirt round it to the left or right.
Once on the Bull Ring follow the road straight on as it changes from Bull Ring to Digbeth High Street to Deritend High Street.
At the junction with the Coventry Road and Camp Hill fork left up the former.
Cross over the next island continuing up the Coventry Road and St. Andrews, which is now visible, is about half a mile up the top of the hill.
WHAT WILL YOU SEE WHEN YOU GET THERE?
The massive old Spion Kop and Tilton Road end terraces were the first things to go when David Sullivan and David and Ralph Gold purchased the club. These were replaced with one large stand that sweeps around the corner of the pitch.
On the other side of the pitch is the Main Stand. This is a two tier stand of fairly modest capacity and dating from the fifties is now showing it’s age in many respects.
Away supporters are housed in the newest facility which is the Railway End. This was opened in February of 1999 and is also a two tier stand. The upper, Olympic Gallery is fairly small and it is from this vantage point that some of our wonderful supporters can drop assorted missiles, spill hot tea and coffee and gob on the away fans situated in the lower stand underneath. If you are a visitor beware of this and choose your seat with care. Unless it is a local derby it is unlikely that a seat that is not directly in the line of fire cannot be found. That is the bad news, the up side is that the facilities are pretty good and compare well with most other stadia up and down the country.
THIRSTY?
If you are a visiting supporter I would not advise drinking anywhere near the ground. It seems likely that Blues will have the highest average First Division home attendance for this season and the local pubs, as well as being absolutely packed with home fans that spill outside and drink on the pavements, are members only. A much better idea is to drink either on the outskirts of the city or in the city centre itself and drive in or catch a taxi to the ground.
Alternatively, if you get to the ground fairly early, alcohol is served inside St. Andrews.
HUNGRY?
St. Andrews offers what I call “football food”. It is neither good nor bad. Even as I write this the Watering Hole pub at the bottom of the Coventry Road hill is being converted into a McDonadls, but if you want a burger a mush better option is either of the two burger vans half way down the same hill. They both serve genuine half pounders for £2-00 a go and I speak from personal experience, they are excellent fare.
There are other burger vans dotted around the stadium and the usual assorted take-aways down the Coventry Road as you walk into Small Heath.
There are some truly excellent curry houses in Birmingham. Do stop and sample their delights before leaving the city, you won’t regret it.
WOULD YOU RECOGNISE US?
Home strip: - Royal Blue shirts
White shorts
Royal Blue socks
Away strip: - Yellow shirts with blue trim
Yellow shorts with blue trim
Yellow socks
Shirt Sponsor: - Auto Windscreens
FANCY A READ IN TRAP NUMBER TWO?
Programme: - The official matchday programme is imaginatively entitled “the Blues.” If you decide to purchase a typical programme seller will relieve you of £2-00. The programme is available both inside and outside the ground. It is printed in full colour on good quality paper and runs to some 48ish pages. This will give you a front cover with a very nice picture of a Blues player, a back page with the usual squad info and match officials, 12 pages of adverts, four of these relating to the club, a centre page (i.e. two page) “poster”, 30 pages of news and views about the Blues and last but not least two pages of the usual thumbnail sketches about the visiting players.
If you are an away fan I will leave you to draw your own conclusions about the value for money of this publication.
Fanzines: - Although Blues has had as many as four fanzines up and running at any one time there are currently two. Both are fairly typical of the football club fanzine of today and will set you back £1-00 a piece.
Easily the longest running of these is the Zulu. This is up to number 70ish these days and there is a new edition for (very nearly) every home game. The Zulu tends to be anti Trev and the Board with not too much by way of the constructive.
The second and newest fanzine is MIB (Made in Brum). The first issue was released for the home leg of the play offs against Barnsley (1999/2000 season) and so far is published for every home game, league or cup. While not being afraid to criticise where justified this fanzine is much more pro club than the Zulu is.
ARE THE NATIVES REVOLTING?
The answer to that is more than most.
Mention has already been made of the possible treatment of away fans by those above inside the stadium and the potential for car crime in the area; take note.
St. Andrews is not situated in the most salubrious part of the country’s second city.
The supporters are not well known for their generosity towards other footy fans and there is definitely still a lunatic fringe associated with Birmingham City. I would think twice about wearing any colours to a game at St. Andrews and if there is any bad feeling between your club and the Blues then I would strongly recommend against. I have witnessed small-scale trouble around the ground on several occasions in the last few seasons. While being nowhere near the worst, we are not exactly angels either.
The stewards on the whole are not a bad lot and if you come up against a jobsworth it is more than likely just down to that individual.
Similarly the police seem to be pretty average in their attitude towards footy fans.
ODDS AND SODS
Club Founded: - 1875
Previous Grounds: - 1875. Waste land near Arthur Street, Small Heath.
1877. Ladypool Road, Sparkbrook.
1877. Muntz Street, Small Heath.
1906. St. Andrews.
Ground Capacity: - 30200 (all seated, as you would expect post Taylor)
Record Attendance: - 66844 vs Everton. Fifth Round FA Cup 11 February 1939.
Away Supporters: - Are located in the Railway End and if your club receives a full allocation of tickets this will be 4000.
Previous Names: - 1875 – 1888. Small Heath Alliance FC.
1888 – 1905. Small Heath FC.
1905 – 1945. Birmingham FC.
1945 – Date. Birmingham City FC.
Nickname: - The Blues. Fans will definitely not recognise anything else such as Brum or City.
We love to hate: - Anything aston vi**a (with a passion) and the wolves. These are the main two but there are some other minor hates such as Milwall. Surprisingly many Blues fans seem to feel some affinity towards West Brom and they are certainly not a big hate club and because our paths have seldom crossed, Walsall are mainly viewed with neutrality. Coventry and the like simply do not enter into the equation.
Our Anthem: - Birmingham City have the greatest football club anthem in the land. This is the “End of the Road” and is a tradition dating back to the fifties. When St. Andrews is full and the Blues are on top a rendition of this can be truly moving.
Managers: - 1945 – 48. Harry Storer
1949 – 54. Bob Brocklebank
1954 – 58. Arthur Turner
1958 – 60. Albert Beasley
1960 – 64. Gil Merrick
1964 – 65. Joe Mallett
1965 – 70. Stan Cullis
1970 – 75. Fred Goodwin
1975 – 77. Willy Bell
1977 – 78.Sir Alf Ramsey
1978 – 82. Jim Smith
1982 – 86. Ron Saunders
1986 – 87. John Bond
1987 – 89. Gary Pendry
1989 – 90. Don Mackay
1991 Lou Macari
1991 – 94. Terry Cooper
1994 – 96. Barry fry
1996 – Date. Trevor Francis
Superstore and Shop: - The Superstore is situated on the corner of the Coventry Road and Cattell Road and the Shop is on the outskirts of the city shops on Dale End. The both sell the usual footy stuff and the Superstore is quite large but it is not air conditioned and can get quite hot, particularly in summer. Matchday tickets are available from the Shop but not the Superstore.
HOW GOOD HAVE WE BEEN IN THE PAST?
(Other than not very. Every Blues fan will tell you about the 125 years of nothing)
Division 2 Champions 1892/3, 1920/1, 1947/8, 1954/5, 1994/5
Division 2 Runners Up 1893/4, 1900/1, 1902/3, 1971/2, 1984/5
Division 3 Runners Up 1991/2
Highest Ever Finishing League Position, Sixth in old First Division 1955/56 season
FA Cup Runners Up 1931, 1956
League Cup Winners 1963 (Beating the vi**a!!!!!!!!!)
Leyland Daf Cup Winners 1991
Auto Windscreens Shield Winners 1995
European Fairs Cup Runners Up 1955/6, 1959/60, 1961/2
Record Victories: - 12-0 v Walsall Town Swifts 1892 and the same score v Doncaster Rovers 1903
Biggest Defeats: - 1-9 v Blackburn Rovers 1895 and the same score v Sheffield Wednesday 1930
CAN YOU GET TO ME?
Come up and see me in Block 13 of the Tilton Road End otherwise e-mail me at birmingham@fromtheterrace.com and let me know your views on anything footy or this in particular.
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9 May 08 
Liverpool Football Club